PFF says Panthers LT Matt Kalil finished last season strong

PFF says Panthers LT Matt Kalil finished last season strong

The way most analysts and pundits talk about Panthers left tackle Matt Kalil, one might assume he’s the worst offensive lineman in the NFL right now.

While it’s easy to pick on Kalil’s shortcomings (fun too), the truth is of course much more complicated than that.

According to Pro Football Focus, Kalil actually finished the 2017 campaign pretty well in pass protection. They say he averaged an 83.6 pass blocking grade over the last eight weeks of the season.

Kalil earned an overall grade of 63.1 in 2017, but did his most consistent pass blocking work from weeks 10-17. His pass block grades only dipped below 70.0 twice during that span and averaged 83.6.#Panthers#PremiumStatshttps://t.co/ewCba0lHhV

Kalil claims he was bothered by a lingering hip injury and he’s now feeling a lot better. So, it’s possible he just hasn’t been himself for a while and he can get back to playing at a relatively high level in 2018.

The Panthers don’t need Kalil to play like Tyron Smith, but given the size of his contract (cutting him this year would cost over $20 million in dead money) they have the right to expect above average blindside play at the very least.

If Kalil can do that, it will give Cam Newton and the Carolina offense in general a lot of relief.